By DeshGujarat News, Ahmedabad, 16 March, 2012

Presented here is Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s photo on the cover of Time Magazine’s Asia edition.

The cover page reads: Modi means business, but can he lead India?

Inside, the story on Modi has headline ‘Boy from the backyard’. The story reads: “…Modi is a controversial, ambitious and shrewd politician.”

A photo line in the article reads: “Designs on Delhi: Modi is tipped as a contender to be India’s next Prime Minister.”

The article says: “Modi’s ability to get things done is in stark contrast to the Congress-led central government in New Delhi.”

The story observes that Modi doesn’t put his faith on display. His office has no religious icons but two statues of his hero Vivekananda.

Time magazine describes Modi as a self-made man, succeeding without family connections adding that “Modi’s family is invisible in a country where nepotism and dynastic politics are the norm.”

Some of the finer points of the article say: “Modi sleeps only 3.5 hours a night, his brother working in state govt office has never visited Modi’s office in last 10 years.”

About the progress of the state, Modi tells the Time magazine “It is not luck, it’s a carefully devised process.”

Time magazine observes that Gujarat’s success is a result of good planning — exactly what so much of India lacks.

The last line of the article reads: “If he succeeds, India may never be the same.”

The story talks in detail about issues like Modi and 2002 riots, Modi and Muslims.

“During his rule, Gujarat has become India’s most industrialized and business-friendly territory, having largely escaped the land conflicts and petty corruption that often paralyze growth elsewhere in the nation,” the article says.

Time magazine article points out that Gujarat’s $85 billion economy may not be the largest in India, but it has prospered without the benefit of natural resources, fertile farmland, a big population center like Mumbai or a lucrative high-tech hub like Bangalore.

Time magazine says that Modi is perhaps the only contender with the track record and name recognition to challenge Rahul Gandhi.

It adds, ” Many Indians recoil at any mention of a man whose name is indelibly linked to Gujarat’s brutality of 2002; choosing him as India’s leader would seem a rejection of the country’s tradition of political secularism and a sure path to increased tension with Muslim Pakistan, where he is reviled. But when others think of someone who can bring India out of the mire of chronic corruption and inefficiency — of a firm, no-nonsense leader who will set the nation on a course of development that might finally put it on par with China— they think of Modi.”

Fans of Shri Modi seem over excited seeing their hero on the cover page of the Time magazine. Heat is already on in social media where Modi is ahead than other politicians.

Gujaratis who have occupied cover of the Time magazine in history so far are: Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Mahatma Gandhi, Mohammad Ali Zinnah, Morarji Desai and Parvin Babi. Among them Mahatma Gandhi has been on the cover for three times. May be Modi will be on the cover again when he become a Prime Minister.